Enisei and Viadana prevail in Round 2 of EPCR playoffs

25/01/2015 - 29/03/2015

Enisei-STM club from Krasnoyarsk, the first Russian club to play in an European competition, made a successful debut in the second round of pool 2 of the qualifying tournament for the 2015/16 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

They scored three tries to none, with outstanding Russian fly half Yuri Kushnarev kicking 13 points to defeat Portugal Champions "Centro Desportivo Universitário de Lisboa” (CDUL) by 28 points to six in Lisbon at the weekend.

The winners coached by the new Russian Head Coach Alexander Pervuhin have set up an exciting winner-takes-all clash with the Italian “Eccellenza" Champions Rugby Mogliano in Russia at a venue to be announced on April the 4th. The winner of the last match will take on the Romanian Champions, both home and away on April 18 and May 2, 2015 respectively for a place in the 2015/16 European Challenge Cup.

In the other pool, Rugby Viadana scored six tries to beat Spain’s Rugby Hermi El Salvador 36-7 at Valladolid’s Campo de Pepe Rojo stadium. Their win makes Cammi Calvisano, who beat Rugby Viadana 34-3 in the first round of pool 1, the previous weekend, hot favourites to reach the playoffs, after their match against El Salvador on April 4, 2015. The winner of the pool will play, both home and away, another Italian club, Femi Rovigo in the playoffs.

The first round of play-off matches is scheduled for April 18 with the final round taking place on May 2, 2015. Rugby Rovigo and Bucharest Wolves had qualified for the current European Rugby Challenge Cup through a play-off series in September 2014.